F,—l.

The laying of twenty-five miles of underground-cable ducts. The laying or erecting of 102 miles of lead-covered cable, containing 18,196 miles of wire, for subscribers' circuits. The erection of 838 miles of pole-line and 6,781 miles of open aerial wire for telephoneexchange subscribers' circuits. The reconstruction of the open-wire systems at twenty-four exchanges. The connection of 12,779 new subscribers' main stations and the disconnection of 8,575 subscribers' main stations. The installation of sixty-six public call offices. The maintenance of 157,767 telephone-stations. The installation of additional secondary batteries at the Wellesley Street, Mount Eden, Onehunga, South Dunedin, and Dunedin automatic exchanges. The installation of rectifier charging-plants at Onehunga and Blenheim. The replacement of hand-ringers by pole-changers at Kaponga and Ranfurly. The installation of frequency-converters at a number of exchanges in replacement of motorgenerator sets and pole-changers for the purpose of improving the ringing facilties at those exchanges. In addition to the work enumerated in the foregoing summary a considerable number of extensions to the switching and cabling portion of local telephone-exchange systems was commenced but not completed during the year. The length of various items of telephone-exchange plant in existence on the 31st March, 1930, and 1931, respectively, was as follows :—

The percentages of the total wire-mileage in underground and aerial cables and open aerial wire respectively for the year ended 31st March, 1931, are as under :— Telephone-exchange wire in underground cables . . . . , . 69 per cent. Telephone-exchange wire in aerial cables. . . .. .. 11 „ Telephone-exchange open aerial wire .. .. .. .. 20 „ TELEPHONE STATISTICS. The steady growth of the telephone system is exemplified in the following table, which shows annually since 1922 the number of exchanges, the total wire-mileage, the revenue, and the total number of telephone-stations, together with the number of telephones for each 1,000 of population of the Dominion :—

s—F f 1.

33

Cable. Wire. Pole-line, — — 3 , , v Duct Line. lJnder ,- Aerial. ground" A ° P .™ aD ground. Gable Cable - Aerial. Headings. Miles. Chains. Chains. Chains. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Iii existence on 31st 14,349 39,243 84,137* 45,180 351,365 59,358 102,373 513,096 March, 1930 Erected during year 839 2,015 5,397 2,766 15,031 3,165 6,781 24,977 Dismantled during year 62 .. 902 3,188 3,331 4,839 1,335 9,505 In existence on 31st 15,126 41,258 88,632 44,758 363,065 57,684 107,819+ 528,568 March, 1931 * Revised figures. f Includes 117 miles of earth-working circuit.

Number of Telephone-stations. Year. Exchange! Miles of Wire. Revenue. K', . ~ Total. p P « '°°° •Population. £ 1922 .. .. .. 301 207,529 614,367 94,683 72-78 1923 .. .. .. 320 229,882 595,967 107,036 80-78 1924 .. .. .. 327 269,421 830,470 111,441 82-67 1925 .. .. .. 340 331,453 867,218 120,097* 87-09 1926 .. .. .. 341 402,433 980,281 130,186* 94-40 1927 .. .. .. 342 440,253 995,071 137.307* 95-48 1928 .. .. .. 344 463,356 1,057,177 144,552* 99-40 1929 .. .. .. 351 495,470 1,135,795 152,541* 103-72 1930 .. 349 513,096 1,206,714 161,323* 108-37 1931 .. .. .. 349 528,568 1,238,649 161,739* 107-04f * Includes approximately 4,000 non-exchange stations, f Decrease owing to temporary loss of subscribers due to Hawke's Bay earthquake.